I enjoy reading this article. Being aware of all the acts for music is free interesting. I think that is was great idea for this act because song writers can finally get what they deserve. I think it crazy for companies like Spotify to think that its okay not to give money to artist they play. It seems like the music industry is a lot to take in and you have to play your cards right or you will get sued.
I’m glad Washington is stepping in to address the giant elephant in the room. Musicians deserve to make money for their art. This extra step to create the Mechanical Licensing Collective. That will help connect songwriters and tech companies. It is obvious that we need this group of folks to help bring peace to the fight between the two. I was able to find a PDF from SXSW that goes in depth about Music Modernization Act. https://www.sxsw.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/LaPolt-MMA-CLE-Materials.pdf
I enjoyed reading this article, and like mentioned in the above comments, I believe its a step in the right direction to have some laws that will be helping musicians earn the money they deserve. The part that caught my attention the most was the section on how they plan on going through with it, by establishing the Mechanical Licensing Collective. I found interest in the idea of a public database for all of the relevant information surrounding the works of these artists.
Check out this link for more information about the Mechanical Licensing Collective: https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2018/05/06/music-modernization-act-mma-mechanical-licensing-collective-mlc/
This is historic! Finally, songwriters have an avenue to gather their revenue from their creative works. This piece of legislation is long overdue and sorely fixes the issues of paying an appropriate wage for the services provided. Next up would be to protect and pay the artists and performers appropriately. Something can be done in the Senate to protect performers rights and allow them to make an actual wage.
I’ll agree with Joey that this is a historical marker
for songwriters and the music industry. The Orrin G. Hatch Music Modernization Act has the potential both involve more artists in the music industry and expand the overall output of music being written and produced. This is all possible given artists do feel this new sense of instilled motivation to create, write and produce in exchange for fair compensation.
The internet has trumped some of these concepts and have devalued the work of songwriters. According to Senator Alexander, the copyrights in place haven’t kept up with the arrival of the internet and some of these laws are over a century old. This modernization of law is overdue and change is finally here to create some fairness within the music industry for its creators. You can watch Senator Alexander’s address to the Senate about this law here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0g3FHmmLKlg
I definitely enjoyed this article, although I had to reread it to get some of the more detailed facts. I believe this law is a hopeful step in the right direction, but as I was looking for more information on the Music Modernization Act I found an article that lists three major problems with it. Not sure how accurate the article is, but it’s always good to read opposing views. If these problems do exist hopefully our legislators will amend the act in the future.
I find it fascinating that this legislation has opposition from big companies such as Sirius XM. The arts, in all forms are very delicate and need provisions from the government to protect both the work and creator. With rapidly changing social and technological changes, it’s important to revise these protection laws regularly to make sure they adequately support and provide with the current social, technological, and economic climates of the current time. If interested in current legislation , Americans for the Arts is a great resource to stay updated with current laws, acts, and legislation.
Like the others before me have said, I believe this is a big win for artists in the music industry. It is definitely a step in the right direction towards artists finally being properly compensated, but it does not solve the issue completely. I think it’s interesting how the Copyright Royalty Board is now allowed to consider a song’s value. It says the changes should result in more pay for songwriters, but it still seems a little sketchy. As with everything else in the music industry I expect there to be very specific rules.
This article from Billboard goes a little bit more in-depth on the passing of the bill. https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/8475876/music-modernization-act-passes-senate-unanimous-support
The Music Modernization Act is extremely controversial for both its initiatives to level the playing field for artists and publishers, and as the article described; having a single board determining the value of a song and the royalties that come from it is a tad biased in my opinion. Going off of that, the article was a tad brief in actually explaining what the Act was introducing.
I found this video that explains it in more detail and it’s a conversation that includes what it means for the future of the music industry if this gets passed to law with Paul Resnikoff of Dogital Music News.
It goes into detail about the different complaints and criticisms of the new Modernization move, one that particularly stood out to me is the fact that it would practically allow for Spotify to bypass the legal fees they are owing for not paying mechanical licensing. It is definitely a strange and curious resolution to such a large sum and it could be due to Spotify lobbying this in Congress allowing for a “new slate” to be started for the streaming world.
With the treaty being passed, I wonder if the number of songwriters will rise again to the numbers that they were before. Although, this does open a lot of doors for music makers, I believe we have a ways to go for musicians. Some musicians will still have to wait to be compensated for the amount they deserve.
If the Music Modernization Act is passed and becomes law, this will be a milestone for songwriters. It is only fair that songwriters get paid more for their work and that music platforms such as Apple Music and Spotify contribute in helping them. The biggest change being introduced by the bill is the new quasi-governmental organization called the “Mechanical Licensing Collective” which will create and manage a public database that contains information on songwriters’ work, which will be useful to tech companies so they can finally pay songwriters accordingly. The following article compares various streaming services and how little money they actually pay to artists, showcasing the importance of laws such as the MMA: https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2018/01/16/streaming-music-services-pay-2018/
From this article, it seems that the Music Modernization Act is a step in the right direction for getting artists fairly compensated for their work and forcing companies like Spotify to recognize the importance of paying for the content they want. However, I feel like this article doesn’t go in depth on the specifics of the Music Modernization Act.
This article goes in a bit more detail and discusses two key senators involved in pushing the bill. https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/24/politics/music-modernization-act-congress-orrin-hatch/index.html
After reading the article, I am glad that this legislation will hopefully, finally pass, and pay artists the royalties they deserve. Upon reading about the royalties board, I was curious on whom the three copyright judges were.
I found that they are Judge Suzanne Barnett, who is the current Chief Copyright Royalty Judge, Judge Jesse Feder, Copyright Royalty Judge, and Judge David Strickler, Copyright Royalty Judge with a focus on economics. Both Feder and Strickler’s terms end in January 2020, while Barnett’s term ends in January 2024. These are going to be the three individuals deciding the value of songs if and when this bill becomes a law.
Another aspect of this article I found interesting was the “Mechanical Licensing Collective”. There is a company out of Australia called Jaxsta that is already doing something similar to this. Jaxsta is “a massive database of official music credits.” Their goal is to create a collective source of information about songs and songwriters to give credit where credit is due on particular songs and pieces of work. They have been developing this media platform since 2013, and hope to roll out the platform in late 2018. I find it amazing how the industry will finally have comprehensive places to find information on singers and songwriters on the work they have done, finally giving credit and royalties to the creatives that deserve it.
For more information regarding the Copyright Royalty Board, check out: https://www.crb.gov
For more information regarding Jaxsta, check out: https://www.jaxsta.com
This is a big step in the right direction, although there is still so much more to do finally artist will be paid correctly when users are playing their music. This bill by songwriters, publishers and DSPs is to help solve a big problem that was going on in the music industry that needed to be addressed. Finally a bill that companies and providers can agree on and have all licensing information and legalities in one place. I found an article that addresses why the bill matters in more ways than one that you can find here: https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/8216857/music-modernization-act-what-is-it-why-does-it-matter-jordan-bromley
Honestly, It’s been surprising learning how little artists and songwriters get payed. I had no clue that Spotify was getting sued left and write or that Congress was getting involved with the music industry. It takes a lot to get Congress do to anything these days so there obviously is a massive problem. In my further research I found a (slightly explicit) article calling for a change of how songwriters and artists are paid. It highlighted some of what we’ve gone over in class about the amount of money being paid out, but goes into more detail about several companies.
The passing of the Music Modernization Act is a huge step forward for the music industry. This opens doors for reform with in the industry to assure that artists will be fairly compensated for their works. With the rapid emergence of music streaming platforms, such as Spotify, this is something that should have been altered long ago. There is still a lot of discussion and alterations that need to be made in order for the music industry to progress to a fair system, but the introduction of this treaty is a wonderful start.
Reading the NPR article on the new Music Industry Peace Treaty definitely sheds light on a new direction that the music industry is finally taking towards better compensation for artists who write music.
The Article talks about establishing a new “Quasi-Governmental” organization called the Mechanical Licensing Collective, or essentially a database containing all relevant artists information involving their written works which will then be used by tech companies to finally further compensate artists. This is truly remarkable for the Music Industry, while it doesn’t take care of all the problems involving royalties, it definitely takes the industry as a whole into the right direction for the future to come.
Here’s an article on a court ruling involving Spotify in early January of 2018.
It was such a shock to me to read that all these song recordings that were recorded and published before the 1970’s were not getting paid even if it was playing in radios still. I’m glad this bill is going through the legislature because it’s not fair to the songwriters or artists to not get paid for their work. This will help small and big artists actually get some revenue. Spotify and Apple Music should always give credit and pay these artists no matter the size they are, they should be given the money the deserve. These streaming platforms are taking money from these songwriters and not paying them enough, which now will be fixed by the MMA. It’s hard enough to build a life around music because people change and their ideas change, so now this will help the music industry and build it up even more. This article goes more in depth about this bill: http://theboot.com/what-is-the-music-modernization-act-mma/
This new legislature regarding how artists and songwriters should be paid seems quite beneficial to a lot of people. I think the article best explains the legislature when describing that it is a response to the digital age of music sales, which has many grey areas of financial control. However, I think that it would be nice to see the actual law in its full form as this article seems kind of vague in describing its exact parameters. In order to look at this bill reflexively, i’ve attached an article relating to some possible problems with the bill. However, I do think this bill is a step in the right direction. https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2018/02/27/music-modernization-act-major-problems/
Getting funding for an artist’s work is an age-old problem that is one of the highest roadblocks any up and coming artists face on their journey towards success. The problem arises from the old school mentality of paying artists with publicity or exposure. This predicament, however, is not only one for the music industry, as we have seen similar issues in the art world. I am a music major who happens to sell artwork on the side, and I’ve encountered similar issues on both sides of my career. There have been significant actions taken in the musical world, but not so much can be said for physical artists. There are some organizations that work to help struggling artists make end’s meat for their countless hours they pour into their craft.
One such example is Art Start Art, a web company that acts as a lesion between buyer and seller to help get commissions started. The cool thing about this website is that is primarily for students who struggle to get their artwork out there, for a realistic price. I don’t know how many times I have had to undersell my art so that it can be sold to my colleagues.
This issue is real. And it is not just a musician’s problem. It’s time for us to look inside ourselves and think about what our lives would be like without the arts. Isn’t art worth much more than our initial thoughts?
I was actually happy to read this article because it is something exciting and relative to our culture. I think that every artist and creator should be able to receive what is due to them because of all of the hard work, talent, skill, and, often times, all three. I genuinely hope this bill becomes a law because that would be extremely motivating for all artists out there who still hope to make money from songwriting.
This article was extremely interesting and was a big step in the music industry for artist and songwriters alike. It really show how much influence the government has on the arts and how decision made can truly benefit people of all professions in the industry. What I found interesting was how many big name artist were still speaking out about the bill even though they make a decent amount of money either way. This bill really helps out smaller artist have the means to develop into larger artist.
In the article I found about the financial burden on songwriters and small musician, it really explains in detail what they have to go through just to produce a song or independent album.
I think the Music Modernization Act being passed in the senate was the best thing that could have happened for artists. Essentially being a “music business peace treaty,” this article talks about how it plans to compromise all of the issues with the music tech companies like Spotify. Spotify launched in 2011 with no process set up to pay or recognize artists for their millions of recordings it was streaming to viewers. Since then it has grown into one of the most popular music companies, and has been sued many times for basically illegally streaming music because they didn’t own the rights to it or pay anyone for their hard work. It is nice to know the government is recognizing art and how it needs to be appreciated by all people who think free music is owed to them. Just like we need to pay for food, water, and electricity, we need to recognize that art and musical arts take a lot of time and money to make, produce and stream to people all around the world and it needs to be appreciated.
I am glad this article was published, so that many people can see how important music is in this country, and that music business is important to our government as well. important enough to legislate for the betterment of song writers, publishers, and artists. It is good to see that our government is still involved (in some small way) with the arts.
The passing of the MMA: “broadly sets out to pay songwriters fairly for streaming, establish a collective that overlooks where mechanical royalties go, and streamline how money is collected.” This all sounds certainly wonderful and very reassuring to a future in music revenue from royalties, however, I still feel as though this affects the top most part of the iceberg of the industry. what more hoops will new artists, song writers, and producers have to jump through next as they go about their music journey as independents to collect what they deserve?
It was really interesting to me to see the government appear to be actively involved in the modern music industry. I know there are still major White House performances, especially at inaugurations, and congressmen and women still go to different concerts from time to time but their focus tends to be more on the politics of issues such as the economy and international relations. It made me curious as to other current events related to government involvement in music issues.
Here’s an article on a recent major lawsuit between a faction of the government and a musical organization.
This article did not give very much information on the legislation. I was confused as to what it actually enacted besides the Mechanical Licensing Collective, and even that only gave nebulous terms on its mission and policy direction. I feel like this will likely help song writers and the industry advance as a whole, but this article does not do a good job at explaining how it specifically will.
This article helped me understand a little bit better about the bill. https://www.lowelaw.com/music-industry-peace-treaty-known-as-the-music-modernization-act-approved-by-both-house-and-senate
I enjoy reading this article. Being aware of all the acts for music is free interesting. I think that is was great idea for this act because song writers can finally get what they deserve. I think it crazy for companies like Spotify to think that its okay not to give money to artist they play. It seems like the music industry is a lot to take in and you have to play your cards right or you will get sued.
I found an article that went more into depth on The Music Modernization Act
https://www.soundexchange.com/advocacy/music-modernization-act/
I’m glad Washington is stepping in to address the giant elephant in the room. Musicians deserve to make money for their art. This extra step to create the Mechanical Licensing Collective. That will help connect songwriters and tech companies. It is obvious that we need this group of folks to help bring peace to the fight between the two. I was able to find a PDF from SXSW that goes in depth about Music Modernization Act.
https://www.sxsw.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/LaPolt-MMA-CLE-Materials.pdf
I enjoyed reading this article, and like mentioned in the above comments, I believe its a step in the right direction to have some laws that will be helping musicians earn the money they deserve. The part that caught my attention the most was the section on how they plan on going through with it, by establishing the Mechanical Licensing Collective. I found interest in the idea of a public database for all of the relevant information surrounding the works of these artists.
Check out this link for more information about the Mechanical Licensing Collective:
https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2018/05/06/music-modernization-act-mma-mechanical-licensing-collective-mlc/
This is historic! Finally, songwriters have an avenue to gather their revenue from their creative works. This piece of legislation is long overdue and sorely fixes the issues of paying an appropriate wage for the services provided. Next up would be to protect and pay the artists and performers appropriately. Something can be done in the Senate to protect performers rights and allow them to make an actual wage.
I’ll agree with Joey that this is a historical marker
for songwriters and the music industry. The Orrin G. Hatch Music Modernization Act has the potential both involve more artists in the music industry and expand the overall output of music being written and produced. This is all possible given artists do feel this new sense of instilled motivation to create, write and produce in exchange for fair compensation.
The internet has trumped some of these concepts and have devalued the work of songwriters. According to Senator Alexander, the copyrights in place haven’t kept up with the arrival of the internet and some of these laws are over a century old. This modernization of law is overdue and change is finally here to create some fairness within the music industry for its creators. You can watch Senator Alexander’s address to the Senate about this law here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0g3FHmmLKlg
I definitely enjoyed this article, although I had to reread it to get some of the more detailed facts. I believe this law is a hopeful step in the right direction, but as I was looking for more information on the Music Modernization Act I found an article that lists three major problems with it. Not sure how accurate the article is, but it’s always good to read opposing views. If these problems do exist hopefully our legislators will amend the act in the future.
Here is the link:
https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2018/02/27/music-modernization-act-major-problems/
I find it fascinating that this legislation has opposition from big companies such as Sirius XM. The arts, in all forms are very delicate and need provisions from the government to protect both the work and creator. With rapidly changing social and technological changes, it’s important to revise these protection laws regularly to make sure they adequately support and provide with the current social, technological, and economic climates of the current time. If interested in current legislation , Americans for the Arts is a great resource to stay updated with current laws, acts, and legislation.
https://www.americansforthearts.org/by-program/reports-and-data/legislation-policy/legislative-issue-center
Like the others before me have said, I believe this is a big win for artists in the music industry. It is definitely a step in the right direction towards artists finally being properly compensated, but it does not solve the issue completely. I think it’s interesting how the Copyright Royalty Board is now allowed to consider a song’s value. It says the changes should result in more pay for songwriters, but it still seems a little sketchy. As with everything else in the music industry I expect there to be very specific rules.
This article from Billboard goes a little bit more in-depth on the passing of the bill. https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/8475876/music-modernization-act-passes-senate-unanimous-support
The Music Modernization Act is extremely controversial for both its initiatives to level the playing field for artists and publishers, and as the article described; having a single board determining the value of a song and the royalties that come from it is a tad biased in my opinion. Going off of that, the article was a tad brief in actually explaining what the Act was introducing.
I found this video that explains it in more detail and it’s a conversation that includes what it means for the future of the music industry if this gets passed to law with Paul Resnikoff of Dogital Music News.
https://youtu.be/Wfe4Mj6CrmY
It goes into detail about the different complaints and criticisms of the new Modernization move, one that particularly stood out to me is the fact that it would practically allow for Spotify to bypass the legal fees they are owing for not paying mechanical licensing. It is definitely a strange and curious resolution to such a large sum and it could be due to Spotify lobbying this in Congress allowing for a “new slate” to be started for the streaming world.
With the treaty being passed, I wonder if the number of songwriters will rise again to the numbers that they were before. Although, this does open a lot of doors for music makers, I believe we have a ways to go for musicians. Some musicians will still have to wait to be compensated for the amount they deserve.
The link below goes into a little more detail of the benefits of this law being passed.
https://www.grammy.com/advocacy/learn/music-modernization-act
If the Music Modernization Act is passed and becomes law, this will be a milestone for songwriters. It is only fair that songwriters get paid more for their work and that music platforms such as Apple Music and Spotify contribute in helping them. The biggest change being introduced by the bill is the new quasi-governmental organization called the “Mechanical Licensing Collective” which will create and manage a public database that contains information on songwriters’ work, which will be useful to tech companies so they can finally pay songwriters accordingly. The following article compares various streaming services and how little money they actually pay to artists, showcasing the importance of laws such as the MMA: https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2018/01/16/streaming-music-services-pay-2018/
From this article, it seems that the Music Modernization Act is a step in the right direction for getting artists fairly compensated for their work and forcing companies like Spotify to recognize the importance of paying for the content they want. However, I feel like this article doesn’t go in depth on the specifics of the Music Modernization Act.
This article goes in a bit more detail and discusses two key senators involved in pushing the bill. https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/24/politics/music-modernization-act-congress-orrin-hatch/index.html
After reading the article, I am glad that this legislation will hopefully, finally pass, and pay artists the royalties they deserve. Upon reading about the royalties board, I was curious on whom the three copyright judges were.
I found that they are Judge Suzanne Barnett, who is the current Chief Copyright Royalty Judge, Judge Jesse Feder, Copyright Royalty Judge, and Judge David Strickler, Copyright Royalty Judge with a focus on economics. Both Feder and Strickler’s terms end in January 2020, while Barnett’s term ends in January 2024. These are going to be the three individuals deciding the value of songs if and when this bill becomes a law.
Another aspect of this article I found interesting was the “Mechanical Licensing Collective”. There is a company out of Australia called Jaxsta that is already doing something similar to this. Jaxsta is “a massive database of official music credits.” Their goal is to create a collective source of information about songs and songwriters to give credit where credit is due on particular songs and pieces of work. They have been developing this media platform since 2013, and hope to roll out the platform in late 2018. I find it amazing how the industry will finally have comprehensive places to find information on singers and songwriters on the work they have done, finally giving credit and royalties to the creatives that deserve it.
For more information regarding the Copyright Royalty Board, check out:
https://www.crb.gov
For more information regarding Jaxsta, check out:
https://www.jaxsta.com
This is a big step in the right direction, although there is still so much more to do finally artist will be paid correctly when users are playing their music. This bill by songwriters, publishers and DSPs is to help solve a big problem that was going on in the music industry that needed to be addressed. Finally a bill that companies and providers can agree on and have all licensing information and legalities in one place. I found an article that addresses why the bill matters in more ways than one that you can find here:
https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/8216857/music-modernization-act-what-is-it-why-does-it-matter-jordan-bromley
Honestly, It’s been surprising learning how little artists and songwriters get payed. I had no clue that Spotify was getting sued left and write or that Congress was getting involved with the music industry. It takes a lot to get Congress do to anything these days so there obviously is a massive problem. In my further research I found a (slightly explicit) article calling for a change of how songwriters and artists are paid. It highlighted some of what we’ve gone over in class about the amount of money being paid out, but goes into more detail about several companies.
Here’s the article:
https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2016/09/15/how-songwriters-get-paid/
The passing of the Music Modernization Act is a huge step forward for the music industry. This opens doors for reform with in the industry to assure that artists will be fairly compensated for their works. With the rapid emergence of music streaming platforms, such as Spotify, this is something that should have been altered long ago. There is still a lot of discussion and alterations that need to be made in order for the music industry to progress to a fair system, but the introduction of this treaty is a wonderful start.
Here is more information about the Music Modernization Act and what it means for the future of the industry:
https://lieu.house.gov/sites/lieu.house.gov/files/Overview%20of%20the%20Music%20Modernization%20Act.pdf
Reading the NPR article on the new Music Industry Peace Treaty definitely sheds light on a new direction that the music industry is finally taking towards better compensation for artists who write music.
The Article talks about establishing a new “Quasi-Governmental” organization called the Mechanical Licensing Collective, or essentially a database containing all relevant artists information involving their written works which will then be used by tech companies to finally further compensate artists. This is truly remarkable for the Music Industry, while it doesn’t take care of all the problems involving royalties, it definitely takes the industry as a whole into the right direction for the future to come.
Here’s an article on a court ruling involving Spotify in early January of 2018.
https://mashable.com/2018/01/31/copyright-court-rules-streaming-companies-have-to-pay-artists-more/#vRTP6aJVfPqx
It was such a shock to me to read that all these song recordings that were recorded and published before the 1970’s were not getting paid even if it was playing in radios still. I’m glad this bill is going through the legislature because it’s not fair to the songwriters or artists to not get paid for their work. This will help small and big artists actually get some revenue. Spotify and Apple Music should always give credit and pay these artists no matter the size they are, they should be given the money the deserve. These streaming platforms are taking money from these songwriters and not paying them enough, which now will be fixed by the MMA. It’s hard enough to build a life around music because people change and their ideas change, so now this will help the music industry and build it up even more. This article goes more in depth about this bill:
http://theboot.com/what-is-the-music-modernization-act-mma/
This new legislature regarding how artists and songwriters should be paid seems quite beneficial to a lot of people. I think the article best explains the legislature when describing that it is a response to the digital age of music sales, which has many grey areas of financial control. However, I think that it would be nice to see the actual law in its full form as this article seems kind of vague in describing its exact parameters. In order to look at this bill reflexively, i’ve attached an article relating to some possible problems with the bill. However, I do think this bill is a step in the right direction.
https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2018/02/27/music-modernization-act-major-problems/
Getting funding for an artist’s work is an age-old problem that is one of the highest roadblocks any up and coming artists face on their journey towards success. The problem arises from the old school mentality of paying artists with publicity or exposure. This predicament, however, is not only one for the music industry, as we have seen similar issues in the art world. I am a music major who happens to sell artwork on the side, and I’ve encountered similar issues on both sides of my career. There have been significant actions taken in the musical world, but not so much can be said for physical artists. There are some organizations that work to help struggling artists make end’s meat for their countless hours they pour into their craft.
One such example is Art Start Art, a web company that acts as a lesion between buyer and seller to help get commissions started. The cool thing about this website is that is primarily for students who struggle to get their artwork out there, for a realistic price. I don’t know how many times I have had to undersell my art so that it can be sold to my colleagues.
This issue is real. And it is not just a musician’s problem. It’s time for us to look inside ourselves and think about what our lives would be like without the arts. Isn’t art worth much more than our initial thoughts?
To read more about Art Start Art, click here:
https://www.artstartart.com/about
I was actually happy to read this article because it is something exciting and relative to our culture. I think that every artist and creator should be able to receive what is due to them because of all of the hard work, talent, skill, and, often times, all three. I genuinely hope this bill becomes a law because that would be extremely motivating for all artists out there who still hope to make money from songwriting.
Below is a Rolling Stone article which talks about a guide to royalties on the music industry.
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/how-musicians-make-money-or-dont-at-all-in-2018-706745/
This article was extremely interesting and was a big step in the music industry for artist and songwriters alike. It really show how much influence the government has on the arts and how decision made can truly benefit people of all professions in the industry. What I found interesting was how many big name artist were still speaking out about the bill even though they make a decent amount of money either way. This bill really helps out smaller artist have the means to develop into larger artist.
In the article I found about the financial burden on songwriters and small musician, it really explains in detail what they have to go through just to produce a song or independent album.
link: https://www.lendingpoint.com/blog/what-does-it-cost-to-produce-an-independent-album-and-how-are-you-going-to-pay-for-it/
I think the Music Modernization Act being passed in the senate was the best thing that could have happened for artists. Essentially being a “music business peace treaty,” this article talks about how it plans to compromise all of the issues with the music tech companies like Spotify. Spotify launched in 2011 with no process set up to pay or recognize artists for their millions of recordings it was streaming to viewers. Since then it has grown into one of the most popular music companies, and has been sued many times for basically illegally streaming music because they didn’t own the rights to it or pay anyone for their hard work. It is nice to know the government is recognizing art and how it needs to be appreciated by all people who think free music is owed to them. Just like we need to pay for food, water, and electricity, we need to recognize that art and musical arts take a lot of time and money to make, produce and stream to people all around the world and it needs to be appreciated.
Here is an article that goes more in depth about the Spotify lawsuits and why they keep getting sued for their activity. https://www.fastcompany.com/40468050/why-spotifys-legal-challenges-just-got-way-more-complicated
I am glad this article was published, so that many people can see how important music is in this country, and that music business is important to our government as well. important enough to legislate for the betterment of song writers, publishers, and artists. It is good to see that our government is still involved (in some small way) with the arts.
I found this article involving the suit.
https://www.engadget.com/2018/05/24/spotify-pays-licensing-settlement/
The passing of the MMA: “broadly sets out to pay songwriters fairly for streaming, establish a collective that overlooks where mechanical royalties go, and streamline how money is collected.” This all sounds certainly wonderful and very reassuring to a future in music revenue from royalties, however, I still feel as though this affects the top most part of the iceberg of the industry. what more hoops will new artists, song writers, and producers have to jump through next as they go about their music journey as independents to collect what they deserve?
https://www.forbes.com/sites/dannyross1/2018/08/02/a-hit-songwriter-explains-urgency-for-music-industry-overhaul-in-washington/#1245de8c4fdd
It was really interesting to me to see the government appear to be actively involved in the modern music industry. I know there are still major White House performances, especially at inaugurations, and congressmen and women still go to different concerts from time to time but their focus tends to be more on the politics of issues such as the economy and international relations. It made me curious as to other current events related to government involvement in music issues.
Here’s an article on a recent major lawsuit between a faction of the government and a musical organization.
https://www.bna.com/music-rights-group-n73014472659/
This article did not give very much information on the legislation. I was confused as to what it actually enacted besides the Mechanical Licensing Collective, and even that only gave nebulous terms on its mission and policy direction. I feel like this will likely help song writers and the industry advance as a whole, but this article does not do a good job at explaining how it specifically will.
This article helped me understand a little bit better about the bill. https://www.lowelaw.com/music-industry-peace-treaty-known-as-the-music-modernization-act-approved-by-both-house-and-senate